


Aspects of Love

by polikszena



Series: Trips to Old Hollywood [1]
Category: Summer Stock (1950)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Golden Age Hollywood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24525364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polikszena/pseuds/polikszena
Summary: Jane Falbury finds herself sneaking more and more often into the rehearsals on the theatre company installed in her barn. She enjoys watchig them, however, there is one thing she doesn’t quite get: what is their show about?
Relationships: implied Jane Falbury/Joe Ross
Series: Trips to Old Hollywood [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772395
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Aspects of Love

As the days were passing by, Jane Falbury began to get used to the actors around the farm. They were still miles away from being a proper agricultural workforce, but they were constantly improving and had already helped Jane a lot. Besides helping with the crops and the animals, they also managed to shake the farm up a little – Jane had to admit that it had become too quiet since Abigail left to pursue her acting career, and now the farm was coming alive again. It took Jane a while to realize that she actually liked this new amount of chaos and noise around her, but it made her more and more grateful to the troupe installed in the barn.

As their aunt Mathilda married an actor, theatre was not a foreign territory for the Falbury sisters, though for Jane singing and dancing was only a pastime: something she enjoyed, but that was all. She left it for Abigail to have a career in show-business. She was the pretty one, after all. Jane always thought she wouldn’t be beautiful enough to be on stage, while on the farm the crops had to look good and not her.

Despite the eager helpers, Jane still had a lot to do on the farm; however, she caught herself more and more often listening or watching the rehearsals. The magic of theatre had already touched her, making her want to go back every time she stepped out of the barn.

One evening she decided to take a quick look at the rehearsals after feeding the animals and locking them in, but then she got stuck there for an hour or two. She only noticed how late it was when Joe Ross called off the rehearsal and the company started to prepare for bed. She decided to sneak out before anyone could see her, but she wasn’t fast enough.

“What do you think?” she heard a soft voice behind her back, and she didn’t have to turn around to know that the director is smiling at her.

“Well, you make me come back again and again,” she replied, facing him, but then she realized what she had just said, and quickly corrected herself. “I mean, not you personally, but the whole group,” she added, staring at her shoes. The memory of dancing with him on the stage crossed her mind, making her feel embarrassed and guilty. _It didn’t mean anything_ , she reminded herself.

 _It didn’t mean anything_ , he reminded himself, as he thought of the dance and the kiss they had on the other day. But then why did her words feel like a punch in the stomach?

“I guess that’s a good sign,” he finally said with his smile growing wider trying to hide that awkward feeling of wanting her to come back because of him.

“Although there is something that I can’t quite get,” she admitted.

“What’s that?” he wondered.

Jane needed a moment before answering, being afraid that she would hurt him with her question. She knew how sensitive artists could be, and she wasn’t sure how Joe would react to any critical opinion.

“Er… no offence, but… what exactly is the show about?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t too harsh with her words.

Joe wasn’t expecting this question. Having spent a lot of time with the troupe, he thought Jane would ask why the third number of Act Two was still sloppy or why there was nothing at the finale of act one. But ‘what’s the show about?’ What the hell was she watching until now?

On the bright side, it was a question he could answer.

“Well, it’s called _Fall in Love_ ,” he replied, perhaps being harsher than he wanted to. “From then it should be obvious.”

“It should be,” she agreed, “yet I can’t really see a story in it,” she added. “I mean, there is a guy who falls in love with a girl, but there are many other things in it that don’t seem to be related to this part.”

“Oh, I see,” he said when he understood what she meant, and calmed down a little. She couldn’t see a story, because there wasn’t one. In fact, there were several, all tied together in a two-act musical. “You were expecting something like two people falling in love but can’t be together, because they are both engaged to someone else, weren’t you?” he said, and he only realized what had come out of his mouth when it was too late.

Jane looked up at him, astonished, with cheeks turning red. Their eyes met and they were unable to look away for a moment that seemed to last an eternity. In the end it was him who managed to turn his face away. He cleared his throat before continuing.

“I mean, this is what happens in almost every operetta,” Joe mumbled with his eyes fixed on the floor.

“Yes, it does,” she agreed. “But your show is not about that.”

“No. But it’s still about love,” he told her. “Just not the operetta-kind. You know, it has many other aspects.”

“I know,” she said with a small smile.

“Well then, you know what’s the show about,” he announced, smiling at her again.

“About the different faces of love?” she wondered.

“Exactly! Love is not only romance, and there are many things to fall in love with,” he explained, gaining back his enthusiasm. “You can fell in love with a dog or a nice hat…”

“Or the theatre,” she mused with her smile growing wider.

“Yeah. Or a farm,” he added and they both laughed.

Their eyes met again and this time it didn’t feel awkward at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this was something unexpected and random that came to my mind while I was listening to the soundtrack of the  
> movie at work started to wonder what on earth Joe Ross' show was about, and then I had this idea. Turned out that this is the first fic here that is related to Summer Stock.


End file.
